In the first part of this travelogue, we showed the serene and fantastic beauty of the Uyuni's Salt Lake in Bolivia - the weird cactus forest, salt formations and volcanos surrounding one of the most desolate landscapes on Earth. We also mentioned the train graveyard, and now we have some pictures to prove it.

Torgeir Bull from Norway has recently traveled in these parts, and brought us a report... no less outlandish than the last article:

There were plans to develop the area near the city of Uyuni (3660 ft above the sea level) into a great railroad hub and terminal station. The construction started in the late 19th century, but was never completed. Today, the empty husks of steam locomotives are rusting away under the watchful sun, like some kind of discarded metal carapaces - while the soft pinky-flesh train "kiddies", no doubt, roam the desert, chewing on some llamas... A picture worthy of S. Dali, perhaps entitled "Time & Rust" -

As the flattest plain on Earth recedes into vastness of space and time -

More shots of salt pyramid structures. Some of them are arranged into patterns only visible from space... just kidding.

Torgeir writes:
"...We traveled to the Uyuni Salt Pans, the largest in the world - a sea of salt, a fantasy world of its own. It looks like an endless frozen over lake or a white expanse of desert, and is actually the evidence of a prehistoric sea that existed there.

This site gives additional info: The lake's total area is 10,580 km2, average annual temperature ranges from 20°Celsius in the daytime to -25°C at night; the climate is dry and cold, with low rainfall and intense solar radiation. As a result of the instant evaporation of ground water that occurs in the southern high plateau due to the dryness of the air, enormous flat salt beds have formed, consisting mainly of the sodium chloride... The surface crust is 10 m thick, and the amount of salt in the Pans is estimated at 64000 millions tons"

The "forest" of giant cactuses (or cacti) - goes well with the playground of gutted steam trains:

To solidify the Salvador Dali connection, this area even has a (huge!) Dali rock:

The road just outside Sucre is shown in the photos below. The roads during the rain season are not (read NOT) in good condition... The rock slides are common and buses have to navigate around them almost every 50 meters:

Many taxi drivers in Bolivia use imported cars, so they have to move the steering wheel over to the left side. This picture is taken from the right front seat.

Strange bridge found near a village. Image taken just before a bunch of dogs decided to go after us.

Even more fantastic bridge, found between Sucre and Potosi - styled after some fantasy castle:

Last find is a fitting ending to the bizarre country and the Bolivian landscapes tour, the closest thing on Earth to a "Salvador Dali-Land" theme park!

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My wife and I went to Bolivia to see the salt flats based on a previous posting on DRB. It was truly amazing. It was really fun to play around in the train graveyard. The currently running train passes right by the old abandoned trains, hence the still used tracks. If you want to see more picture of the salt flats or the trains, I have a few (although not as good as these) up at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mooreta79/

There was a very damning report about this very area on our 'Foreign Correspondant'. Uyuni is the site of the greatest lithium depsosits in the world worth trillions of dollars, read the new oil; the locos were featured as a reference to exploitations past. Bolivia currently has a socialist government and those pesky Bolshies actually want 50% cut of their natural resources. Does that mean the salt lake will be dug up as they have to expose the brine water to get to the lithium?

There are some of nice places still missing from this area:The red lake - laguna colorada:https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-q780Pehq3l8/Tm4v3qAfULI/AAAAAAAAnHE/0OFMlRpg3uk/s1600/IMG_7499.JPGThe real "Dali" part of the desert:https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-5_1uV5mOuEo/Tm4zhcPVL7I/AAAAAAAAnOw/MHEsooHc4PE/s1600/IMG_7605.JPGThe green lake:https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-jOmR5RmX6EQ/Tm40WL72lFI/AAAAAAAAnQk/nvRCxVNwl9E/s1437/CIMG1371.JPGA white lake, just around the corner:https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-D4sGL_wII3s/Tm41mGwZCPI/AAAAAAAAnTI/rSAh2D9exLg/s1078/IMG_7664.JPG

A funny graffito from the train graveyard:https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-2Ogajit2qQ8/Tm43YsMH66I/AAAAAAAAnV0/YZt50MOaBBc/s1600/IMG_7694.JPG"Wanted: An experienced mechanic"A piece of the salt crust from the lake:https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3KvgPvLqO5g/Tm47I9-_orI/AAAAAAAAndg/sp1Qbz_eY4E/s1600/IMG_7807.JPG

We've been there two years ago, and it is really a fantastic place. The rest of the country aswell. So diverse, so beautiful.